Man of the Week: Maxim Shalunov
KHL.ru’s weekly column returns with Lokomotiv’s forward Maxim Shalunov. As the playoffs go deeper, his importance to his team increases, cementing his reputation of one of the best players in the league in clutch moments.
When the pressure rises in the KHL playoffs, Maxim Shalunov tends to become impossible to ignore. Lokomotiv’s veteran forward delivered another reminder during the 2026 Gagarin Cup semifinals against Avangard. In seven games against one of the league’s deepest rosters, Shalunov recorded six points, scoring five goals and adding an assist while finishing with a plus-4 rating. More importantly, nearly every goal came attached to a defining moment. With Lokomotiv facing elimination in Game Six, trailing by two in the final minute of regulation, it was Shalunov who dragged the defending champions back from the edge. He scored twice in the final 22 seconds to stun the Hawks and force overtime before Lokomotiv eventually escaped with a 3:2 double-overtime victory, with Rushan Rafikov netting the game-winner.
Days later, after Lokomotiv completed the comeback in Game Seven, the KHL named Shalunov the best forward of the semifinal round. It was hardly a surprise. Even in the last game, with Avangard up by two goals again, the Railwaymen desperately needed a goal to get back on track. And with thirty seconds to go in the middle frame, Shalunov exploded his great shot to make it a 2:3 game, with Yegor Surin and Maxim Beryozki sealing the deal for Lokomotiv, who returns to the Gagarin Cup after last year’s triumph over Traktor and 2023-24 loss to Metallurg. Shalunov now owns two Gagarin Cups with two different organizations. Last spring, he scored the OT winner against Traktor in Game Five of the 2025 final, delivering Lokomotiv’s first championship in franchise history. Four years earlier, he played a major role in CSKA Moscow’s 2022 title-winning team.
Early years
Born in Chelyabinsk, one of Russia’s great hockey cities, Shalunov developed inside Traktor’s system and quickly emerged as one of the country’s top young forwards. At the junior level, he won bronze with Team Russia at the 2013 World Junior Championship in Ufa. His excellent release stood out and he was always gifted with a great shot. His shooting ability was the driver behind Chicago Blackhawks’ call in the fourth round of the 2011 NHL Entry Draft and he was signed in North America in the 2013 offseason, after Shalunov played one KHL debut game with Traktor.
Shalunov played in North America during the 2013–2014 season, on an AHL contract with the Rockford IceHogs, the Blackhawks’ American Hockey League affiliate. After registering four assists in twenty games with Rockford, the forward was assigned to the Toledo Walleye of the ECHL, where he contributed with 18 goals and 34 points in 43 games.
Return to Russia
On July 28, 2014, Shalunov returned to his native Russia, signing a one-year contract with Sibir. It was a great era for the Novosibirsk franchise, who had excellent play and leadership from Shalunov, Sergei Shumakov, and Konstantin Okulov. After the 2016–2017 season, his third year in Novosibirsk, Shalunov was traded along with Shumakov and Okulov to CSKA in exchange for Alexander Sharov and financial compensation on the opening day of free agency on May 1, 2017. During his three seasons in Novosibirsk, he produced 111 points in 150 regular-season games, numbers that inevitably attracted the attention of bigger clubs. He also had a spectacular 38-goal campaign in 2016-2017 with Sibir.
With CSKA, expectations were much higher. But Shalunov was ready. He recorded 45 points in his first season with the club, then followed with 35 points the next season. After lifting his first Gagarin Cup in 2019, Shalunov was instrumental for the Muscovites in the 2021 postseason, when he led the league with twelve goals despite CSKA lost to Avangard 2-4 in the grand final.
Move to Lokomotiv
By the time Lokomotiv signed him in 2021, Shalunov was already established as one of the KHL’s premier big-game players. Yet his arrival in Yaroslavl pushed his reputation even higher. Lokomotiv had built an excellent defensive structure under Igor Nikitin, but also needed players who could score. Shalunov was one of them despite a underwhelming first season with the club.
His first deep run in the playoffs with Lokomotiv ended painfully in a 2024 Gagarin Cup Final sweep against Metallurg, but even that disappointment only sharpened the group. One year later, Lokomotiv returned stronger and more experienced, and Shalunov delivered the signature goal in franchise history: the OT winner against Traktor that secured the 2025 Gagarin Cup.
Now, another year later, he is doing it again as Lokomotiv enters the final stage against Ak Bars, as a remake of the first-ever final in the league, back in 2008-2009. Then, Kazan captured the win in a hard-fought series, which lasted seven games. This year, Lokomotiv will seek revenge, and a second consecutive triumph.
